Abstract

To the Editors: Dr. LaCombe's captivating story (1) is a stark reminder of the primary role of the physician in 1992 or in any era. Despite expenditure of billions of dollars on health care and despite a burgeoning (often self-serving) medical industrial complex, the primary care physician, whose duty is to relieve pain and suffering, remains that link to humanity, indeed, to the individual.

With the onslaught of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, the resurgence of tuberculosis and cholera as well as current levels of violence, most of us, even those who treat the most fortunate, still primarily serve to comfort